Mohawk Interruptus- Alexia Bacon

In Mohawk Interruptus Audra Simpson uses ethnographic refusal methodology to challenge traditional thoughts in the fields of Anthropology and Native Studies.  Simpson’s book focuses on the Kahnawa:ke Mohawks and that nations struggle to stay sovereign.    Throughout the book Simpson also discusses her methodology of keeping her own experiences separate from the people that she is interviewing so her personal narrative/story does not become their own experience/narrative.  Throughout the book she is able to bring together her personal reflections/stories, interviews, and public data to form full pictures of her research.

Last week during the class discussion we talked about the importance of building relationships in order to strengthen not only interviews conducted with participants, but ones overall research.   I found it interesting in this reading how she discusses the importance of not only building relationships, but also the importance of making people feel safe a priority while conducting her interviews.  I appreciated in this reading how Simpson discussed making interviews personal, relevant, and connecting already formed data and narratives to the different interviews.   Another aspect I found interesting was how she was connected to the community shaped how she set up the methodology she used for her research.  

Each week I find it difficult to connect the readings with my work because I do not work within or conduct research.  When thinking generally though about concepts Simpson brought up about her research there are some ideas that can be applied to navigating working within your own community and communities that you are not a member of.   When she talks of doing research within her own community Simpson brings up two questions one should ask themselves.  Those two questions are (1) Can this knowledge be used to hurt anyone? (2) Can I go home after this? (P. 198).